


nine lives (live for ten)

by cursive



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Animal Transformation, Fluff, M/M, Witch Curses, but mostly just onghwang sassing each other, rated for Minhyun Gets Inconveniently Naked A Lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 20:29:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15692823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cursive/pseuds/cursive
Summary: Seongwu had been feeding that stray cat from his street for a while when the first snow came. Little did he know what he was getting into when he decided to rescue and take care of it during winter.In which Minhyun is a cursed witch-turned-cat and Seongwu is just your regular lonely guy thrown into a magical mess he never asked for.





	nine lives (live for ten)

**Author's Note:**

> WELL this was supposed to be for sirius rises ROUND ONE so forgive me for my tardiness... and for posting it incomplete GDSJFGJSK
> 
> might as well let it go than try to complete it without even having feedback for something this big, so.
> 
> happy onghwang week! please accept my chunky - and late - contributions. this one would be for day 2, for instance. the SR prompt is prompt #52 from round one. this will be posted into the proper SR collection once we're done with the week, as well.
> 
> i don't think i have anything else to say other than that this is super self-indulgent and it gets WORSE as chapters go so. i'm sorry in advance.

 “There was this kids’ book I read once for school”, Seongwu starts, crouching near a corner of the dumpster next to his building he had insisted on taking Daniel to, “about an old lady who refused to name living things because of the possibility they wouldn’t outlive her.” The piece of ham hangs low on his grip as he whistles in a low tone, staring intently at the narrow space between the wall and the dumpster. “Everyone she knew had passed away, and she didn’t want to deal with more loss—”

“Hyung”, Daniel interrupts from behind him, snickering. “You’re not old, and all of your friends are alive.”

“You know nothing, Daniel”, Seongwu retorts, clearly displeased at the interruption. “My gold fish died when I was twelve.”

Daniel shrugs, chuckling again when Seongwu throws him a glare behind his shoulder. “Anyway, don’t interrupt me, I wasn’t done. She had no friends alive, but she didn’t want to be alone, so she named household objects and called them her friends, because they would surely outlast her.”

A rustling noise coming from behind the dumpster startles them into looking up at the dark corner again. When nothing happens, Daniel hums and turns to the elder again. “Is this why you named your bike _Roxanne_?”

“No”, Seongwu groans out, waving the ham in front of him one more time. “Besides, she’s so old I’m sure she’ll break down for good if I give your big ass another ride.” He ignores the younger’s protests, silencing him with a hasty hand gesture just as the rustling starts again.

A small, dark shadow emerges from the top of the wire fence behind the dumpster, jumping onto the lid and watching Seongwu’s crouched form with curiosity. Daniel gasps, taking in the long, black fur of the creature and its sharp yellow-green eyes. “In the end of the book, though”, Seongwu continues his tale, smiling up at the cat as if they were old friends, “she adopts a dog and names him Lucky because she realizes how lonely she is.” The cat lands gracefully in front of him, looking very interested at the ham on his hand. “Or some shit like that”, he finishes lamely, beckoning the cat closer.

Daniel no longer listens to him – he probably hadn’t listened to Seongwu at all from the moment the cat made its appearance, too interested in it to divert his attention back to a _pesky human_. “Oh my _god_ , hyung”, he gasps aloud, whipping out his phone and immediately activating the camera. The cat looks up at him warily, then at Seongwu again, as if suspicious of something. “You weren’t lying—it’s so cute—its fur’s so long and silky… I want… to pet it…”

Seongwu merely nods at the cat, nudging the piece of meat closer to it. “He’s my friend, buddy. You’re safe.”

It takes a few seconds more for the cat to come closer, but when it does, the piece of ham in Seongwu’s hands quickly disappears. Daniel coos at the scene, not daring to come any closer while the cat is still eating.

“Are you sure it’s really a stray, hyung?”, he asks a moment later as the cat nuzzles Seongwu’s hand in apparent gratitude. “She looks so well-kept.”

“Who says it’s a she?”, Seongwu asks amusedly, running a hand down the small animal’s back and smiling to himself when it purrs pleasantly.

Daniel shrugs, then steps carefully to Seongwu’s side, kneeling near the cat, who barely seems to acknowledge his presence, too busy basking in Seongwu’s affection. “I always assume they’re girls. Made too many mistakes before.” He laughs at the memory of having named his two _female_ cats _Rooney_ and _Peter_ , then snaps another picture of the cat. “Did you check?”

“Ew, no”, the elder replies, scrunching up his nose. “It’s not like I’m planning to get emotionally attached to it or something. It’s just a cat that I feed on occasion.”

“You’ve been feeding it every day, though”, Daniel points out, chancing a light touch to the cat’s head; it sniffs his hand once, twice, then nuzzles it as well, pleased at the extra attention. Daniel keens in delight at it. “She’s so _soft_ ”, he then mutters to himself.

It’s Seongwu’s turn to shrug. “It’s been getting colder.”

Daniel laughs, suddenly full with two handfuls of cat, running his hands down soft fur; the cat seems unbothered (if not delighted) by the almost excessive affection. “Sure, hyung.”

They stay like that for a while, kneeling on the hard ground of the street of Seongwu’s apartment block, hands on the cat. Daniel, much more enthusiastic, attempts to pick the cat up at one point, only for it to escape through his fingers and climb up the dumpster, watching them from above bemusedly. He then snaps another picture of her.

“I’m gonna post her to Instagram”, he announces; Seongwu groans in distaste.

“Don’t do that, people will think it’s up for adoption and come over to pick it up or something.”

“Wouldn’t that be good, though, hyung?”, the younger questions, browsing his phone for the right app. “It’s gonna start snowing soon. She could use a roof to live under, even if just temporarily.”

Seongwu hums, acknowledging Daniel’s point, but still not entirely pleased. “I still don’t think it’s safe to just let anyone adopt it. What if it’s someone who hates black cats? What if they kill it and use its leather to—"

“ _Hyung_ ”, Daniel whines, horrified.

“—There’s no way we can let people know its location without a background check—”

This time, it’s Daniel’s laughter what interrupts his rambling. “What now”, Seongwu bites, coming off less angry than originally intended due to the cat currently purring heavily against his hand. He glances at it, softening instantly, and Daniel’s laughter turns into a cooing giggle.

“You _care_ ”, the younger calls him out with a shit-eating grin. “You should take it in.”

Seongwu scowls. “No way. I wouldn’t know how to take care of it and I don’t have the _time_ to take care of it.”

“It’s not that hard”, Daniel reasons. “They don’t need that much attention, and as long as you leave them something to play with and scratch, they won’t make much of a mess. All you have to do is make sure it has food and a litter box to poop on.” He tries to reach for the cat currently cuddled up in Seongwu’s arms, only to be slapped away by his friend himself. “See? You’re attached to it already. She could be your _Lucky_ , hyung.”

“I’m not an old lady”, the elder scowls, arms still protectively wrapped around the cat. “And I think it can get by just fine without me.”

Daniel pouts. “But it’s so cold already, hyung. Think about her. She could be _pregnant_ , for all we know—wait, that’s not a convincing argument—”

“It better not be”, Seongwu grumbles, chancing a feel at the cat’s belly only for it to meow low and threateningly at him; he immediately retracts his hand. “Anyway, I’ll—I’ll do what I can for it. I just don’t think I can take it in, really.”

“I wish I could, but I don’t think Peter and Rooney can deal with one more cat.” Daniel angles his phone closer to the cat and surreptitiously snaps a picture. “Anyway, I’ll try talking to a shelter I know. I’m sure they’ll take care of her well there.”

Seongwu nods, pretending not to be so affected at the prospect of having his _friend_ taken away. “Sure. Whatever. I don’t care.” The cat then looks up at him, meowing inquisitively. “ _Of course I care_ ”, he whispers to it when Daniel stands up and wipes dirt out of his knees.

The cat purrs again, nuzzling Seongwu’s coat; Seongwu smiles before steeling himself to say goodbye, hoping his friend would still be there when he came back from class.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

It’s the first snow, or so the weather forecast app on Seongwu’s phone says.

One look at the window is enough for him to realize it’s not just the first snow, but also the first goddamn _blizzard_ of the season.

Seongwu had never been good at decision-making under pressure; part of him urged him to just stay at home and enjoy the day off, and another part, a bigger one with a voice very similar to Daniel’s, was the part currently in charge of his running legs and fumbling arms, scrambling to grab a large scarf as he ran out of his apartment and to the dumpster by the corner of his building complex.

He could only hope he wasn’t too late.

He tries _psst_ -ing his way into luring the cat, to no avail; after calls for _buddy_ , _friend_ , and even _Lucky_ don’t work, Seongwu finds himself squeezing his body into the tiny space between dumpster and wall in a desperate last attempt at finding the cat, freezing, _filthy_ walls be damned.

 _What if they already took it away?,_ his brain unhelpfully provides, cursing Daniel inwardly for the idea. At this point, he almost _wants_ it to be the case; it’s just too cold to stay outside right now.

Under a dismantled cardboard box, he finds a lump of black fur curled into itself so tightly Seongwu can only tell it’s his friend because of how much it is shaking.

“Hey, buddy”, he calls it again. The cat’s ears twitch, but it shows no other reaction until Seongwu reaches out under the cardboard and runs an ungloved hand through its fur.

It’s cold, and a little wet from the snow.

He quickly scrambles to pick up the cat, not really surprised at how it doesn’t protest – no one would say no to a little warmth when feeling that much cold –, wrapping the scarf around it haphazardly before slipping his way back into his building, careful enough not to risk falling off but definitely almost comically clumsy.

Seongwu could laugh at the situation later; right now, he has a cat to warm up and feed.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“ _Hyung, if you were just gonna pick it up and bring it to your house anyway, why didn’t you do this before?”_ , Daniel questions him over the phone, laughing in disbelief. “ _You’re lucky she survived after staying out in the cold for so long—”_

“Stop scolding me and help me out”, Seongwu interrupts him, fumbling with his phone to keep it snug between his head and shoulder while carrying grocery bags into his building. “I’ve got the litter box, food and water bowls, cat food for two months, one of those jiggly balls your cats love—”

“ _Did you get something for her to scratch?_ ” Seongwu curses inwardly, elbowing at the elevator buttons for his floor. From the other side of the line, Daniel chuckles. “ _I’m so sorry for your couch, hyung_.”

“I’ll—I’ll get it something when the blizzard stops. I barely managed to buy this stuff as it was. It’s a warzone outside.” The line cuts briefly as the elevator goes up, but both Seongwu and Daniel are too used to it to be disturbed by the brief silence. Once Seongwu reaches his floor, he leaves the bags on the floor in front of his door as he struggles to fish his keys out of his pants pocket, underneath the thick padded coat he had to wear to dare venture outside before every store nearby closed due to the blizzard.

“ _Don’t forget to set up the litter box in somewhere private but accessible, like your bathroom or the laundry room. Oh, and you won’t have to do it now, but you should probably consider putting a screen protection over your windows, hyung, you live in a very high place—”_

“Daniel”, Seongwu deadpans, taking the groceries inside; the cat watches him curiously from the couch, still lying on top of a blanket Seongwu had put out for it to warm up. “I’m not keeping it after winter ends—”

_“Oh, so you’re abandoning her once spring comes? That’s so cruel, hyung—”_

Seongwu sighs. Daniel sounds on the verge of tears.

“Let the cat be free, Daniel. It didn’t need me, and it’s probably dying to go outside again and be a rowdy street cat or whatever—”

“ _Hyung, you’re so cruel—!”_

Seongwu hangs up, running a hand down his face. His limbs are _freezing,_ and he doesn’t want to deal with Daniel’s hurt feelings on top of it all.

He removes his heavy coat and plops down on the couch by the cat’s side; in no time, he finds himself with a lapful of very warm, purring cat.

“Don’t do that, I’m cold”, he scolds the feline lightly, not daring to touch it with his freezing fingertips. The cat nuzzles his stomach, probably reveling in the soft fabric of Seongwu’s sweater. “Huh”, Seongwu laughs breathlessly, still staring down at the cat, “is that your way of showing gratitude?”

The cat says nothing, rolling on its back to stare at Seongwu from its spot on top of his stomach. It’s a cat, after all, Seongwu reminds himself as he snorts at his own silliness. “Warm me up, then.”

Soon enough, they fall fast asleep on the couch, snuggled up against each other.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“Daniel”, Seongwu whispers to his phone, glancing sideways at the cat, currently seated on top of his litterbox, nose turned upwards. “Daniel, I think the cat wants me to _leave_ so it can take a dump.”

“ _And why are you still there?_ ”, Daniel asks incredulously; on the background, Seongwu can hear loud meowing from who he thinks is Rooney. _“Let her have some privacy, why would you even want to watch that?”_

“I was curious”, Seongwu defends himself, pouting at the phone until he realizes it will have no effect on his friend. “I’ve never seen a cat take a dump.”

Daniel snorts. _“You weirdo. Let her poop in peace, hyung!”_

“Stop calling my cat a she!”, the elder protests, quietly leaving the bathroom to let the cat do its business.

 _“It’s_ your _cat now?_ ”, Daniel teases; the meowing in the background slowly gets louder, now accompanied by backing vocals from which Seongwu assumes is Peter; either that or Daniel found himself a cat café brave enough to open during a blizzard, judging by the amount of meowing. “ _Didn’t you check it yet to make sure? What if you end up misnaming it?_ ”

Seongwu promptly ignores Daniel’s first comment. “Boy or girl, I don’t really care. And I’m not gonna name it. Cats don’t need names.”

“ _Cats don’t what?”_ , Daniel asks, laughing to himself.

“Cats don’t need names. They know who they are. Us humans need names because we don’t”, comes Seongwu’s solemn reply.

Daniel’s only reply is a long _uhhhhhh_ that makes Seongwu huff in exasperation.

“It’s _Coraline_ , you uncultured swine.”

The cat chooses that moment to peek at him from the bathroom door; Seongwu beckons it closer, rolling his eyes at Daniel’s lame excuse for having no idea what Seongwu was talking about ( _the last book I read was in, like, high school. About some dude who turns into a cockroach or something. Pretty fucked up, right?_ , and Seongwu can only sigh and hope to one day be able to explain _Metamorphosis_ properly to his friend), and smiling to himself when it nuzzles his leg, so tender and clingy it almost makes Seongwu tear up.

_Almost._

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“Daniel”, Seongwu screeches, voice muffled by what could be a pillow, “I think it’s trying to kill me.”

“ _You think it’s trying to what now?”_ , comes Daniel’s sleepy reply.

Seongwu’s hands scramble blindly in front of his face, glad he has Daniel on speed dial to call him at 4 in the morning because there is a _cat_ sitting on his face. “It’s trying to murder me”, he whines, trying to gently push the cat away. “It’s suffocating me—”

“ _Oh”,_ is all Daniel says for a moment. “ _You woke up to cat butt?_ ”

Seongwu opens his mouth, splutters when sudden mouthful or black fur finds him. “The fuck is cat butt, Daniel—”

“ _Nothing you should worry about_ ”, Daniel replies calmly, seemingly shuffling around in his own bed, “ _Sometimes you go to sleep and wake up feeling a little stuffy. That’s cat butt for you. They like to sit on human faces, for some reason.”_

“A little stuffy”, Seongwu repeats, finally fully pushing the cat off. “It was fucking _suffocating_ me.”

“ _You’ll get used to the feeling soon enough, hyung.”_

Daniel yawns and the line goes quiet; Seongwu ends the call, knowing waking Daniel up again would only make him angry at this point.

The cat peers at him curiously from his side; Seongwu scowls at it. “Don’t play innocent, now. I’m banning you from my room for the rest of the winter.”

He does kick the cat out, but the ban only lasts about ten minutes before Seongwu feels bad about the low, terribly sad-sounding meowing he listens coming from behind the closed door.

“You little shit”, he grumbles as the cat happily climbs his bed, its purring almost too loudly for Seongwu’s tastes. “Don’t give me _cat butt_ again, our friendship’s already fragile enough as it is.”

The black cat meows lazily, stretching its front legs to paw gently at Seongwu’s chest before fully settling by his side, warm and cozy.

Seongwu wakes up to cat butt again in the morning.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“Daniel”, Seongwu says as soon as the younger picks up the phone, “I’m, like, ninety-seven percent sure the cat’s been messing with my books when I’m outside.”

Daniel only hums, patiently waiting for Seongwu to elaborate whatever tale he had now about the odd cat in his house.

“I found my copy of _Infinite Jest_ on top of my bed earlier today, when I came back from class”, Seongwu explains, staring at his own book shelves in confusion. “It had scratch marks on a few pages and one of them was actually _ripped_ in the middle.”

Daniel hums again.

“It’s so—weird—like, my couch has zero scratches but the cat chose to take books off my shelves and scratch every page? Is this normal cat behavior?”

“ _Probably_ ”, Daniel replies noncommittally, “ _I wouldn’t know—I don’t keep that many books in my apartment_.”

Seongwu scowls. “Really? That’s all you have to say?”

“ _Hyung, I’m not a cat expert_ ”, Daniel calmly replies. _“I just really like cats and happen to have two. Every cat is different, you know. This one just happens to like destroying books, I guess.”_

“See”, Seongwu grumbles, albeit a little sheepishly after Daniel’s admonishing. “This is why this cat and I aren’t meant to stay together. I’ll look for a new home for it as soon as spring comes.”

Seongwu can _feel_ Daniel shrug from the other side of the line. “ _Keep telling yourself that, hyung. You’re already in love with her if you’re not even throwing a fit over having your books ripped._ ”

Seongwu groans and ends the call before Daniel can get any smugger.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“Daniel”, Seongwu wheezes, hands on his stomach, face scrunched up in laughter, “are you—are you sure this is _not_ , like, killing it or anything? Just— _what is it doing with the carpet—”_

Daniel drunkenly sways, body hitting the couch behind him, the only thing stopping him from falling over. In front of them, on the floor, the cat slowly twists itself into a pretzel-like shape, rolling on both the carpet and the catnip carelessly thrown into it.

Maybe giving the cat some catnip while drunk wasn’t the best idea, Seongwu muses, making a mental note he’s sure he’ll forget as soon as he passes out to vacuum the carpet the next morning.

“She’s _fine_ , hyung”, the younger reassures him after taking a long sip from his soju bottle. “Probably seeing a few things here and there, but”, he turns to Seongwu, squinting at him and then giggling to himself, “I can see the three of you very well, myself, and I’m just _fine_ , too.”

Seongwu rolls his eyes, taking a swig from his own half-empty bottle of soju. “Stop drinking and stop calling my cat a _she_. This cat—this very cat—transcends the concept of gender.”

“Uh-huh”, Daniel waves him off, taking out his phone and struggling to unlock the screen, still giggling at the cat. “Look at her go, hyung! This is going on Instagram.”

As if on cue, the cat rolls on its back and opens its mouth wide, letting out a lazy _meow_ before stretching its limbs and rolling back on its stomach, vigorously rubbing its head against the carpet.

“Stop—“, Seongwu starts, interrupts himself to laugh at the blown-wide eyes of the cat, “stop embarrassing her on the internet, Daniel, you’ll hurt her feelings.”

“Oh, so it’s a _she_ , now?”, Daniel teases him, still looking intently at the cat as he films it. “Can we call it Ginny? How about Lily—”

“You’re _not_ naming my cat after Harry Potter characters”, Seongwu retorts, trying to pull the cat to his lap before Daniel can record it anymore. “Stop filming! You probably have more pictures of my cat than of your own cats on your Instagram by now—”

“But she’s so cute!”, Daniel pouts.

“Not the point”, the elder scowls, still holding on to his very dazed – and now slightly drooling – cat. “My cat’s private life and getting high time should be respected.”

The cat slowly escapes from his precarious grasp, its body lax and limbs like jelly, until it rolls back onto the carpet, staring wide-eyed and upside down at Seongwu. Its pupils are almost impossibly dilated, Seongwu notices with a snort, and a low noise coming from its throat.

It meows impossibly loud, still frozen in position; Seongwu and Daniel fall over in laughter, and the elder finds himself whipping out his own phone.

“Okay, this one—“, Seongwu points at the cat, its meowing a long, incessant note, “is going on _my_ Instagram.”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“Daniel”, Seongwu can hear Daniel sigh before he’s even done telling him what’s the problem. “Daniel, I really think it’s trying to kill me, this time. I’m on my fourth cup of coffee and it’s midterms week and it won’t stop _poking at my stomach_ at goddamn _three_ in the morning and I’m in pain—”

“ _Maybe_ ”, Daniel gently interrupts him, voice laced with sleep, “ _Maybe your stomach hurts because you’re on your fourth_ _cup of coffee, hyung.”_

“But—but it keeps _poking me_ and how do I know it’s not making things worse? I read on WikiHow you can tell when a cat’s trying to kill you—”

“ _Cats would never do that”_ , Daniel protests, half-whining; Seongwu listens as he plops back down on his pillow, lulled by the sound of gentle purring, probably from Rooney, the cuddlier cat. “ _I think she just wants you to sleep._ ”

Seongwu has half a mind to tell Daniel to stop calling the _goddamn_ cat a she. “Bullshit, it wants to kill me—I can’t die tonight, I have to finish writing up this article by noon—”

Daniel groans. “ _Hyung, I’m sorry your academic life sucks, but I’m sure the cat won’t be the one responsible for your death. Try getting things done in advance next time.”_

“Hey, you don’t get to scold me for—“, Seongwu attempts to protest, but Daniel’s light snoring tells him he once again fell asleep without ending their call.

The cat looks up at Seongwu from its perch on his lap, tilting its head slightly to the side. _Cute_ , Seongwu thinks before he remembers he’s supposed to be angry at the cat for distracting him; the cat gently paws at his stomach again, touches light at first and then a little more pressing in the end, slowly kneading at soft flesh.

Seongwu sighs in defeat. “ _Fine_ , I’ll take a nap as soon as I’m done writing this.” The cat meows happily, then curls up on his lap for the rest of the night.

It takes Seongwu two more hours of incessant tapping at his laptop to realize the pain on his stomach was long gone.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

It’s late February when Seongwu finally stops calling Daniel every other night to make absurd questions about cats; by then, the black cat feels like a fixture in his life, be it as a partner during lonelier nights (for the first time in years Seongwu doesn’t feel the need of getting an emergency girlfriend to spend Valentines Day with) or as a playful pet on nights he feels refreshed enough to indulge the cat’s energetic chases after laser beams and the countless teasers Seongwu found himself buying whenever he came across a pet store while outside.

Spring is almost coming, and Seongwu doesn’t feel ready to let go of the cat just yet.

His final decision comes the morning after his last midterm, as his shift at the coffee shop he works part-time at ends and he crosses paths with yet another pet store. He had never been one to window shop before, but ever since he took the cat in, he keeps finding himself flirting with the colorful pet collars on display behind the glass window. He scoffed at the idea of getting one for his cat, at first – that would make things _too official_ , and the cat was supposed to leave come March.

Seongwu hadn’t even started trying to find a new home for the cat, though.

Yet, this time, a particularly pretty purple leather pet collar draws his attention the moment he lays eyes on the display.

What he loved the most about the cat, besides its calm temper and clingy behavior (Seongwu was a cuddler, after all) was its long, silky black fur. It was, as Daniel had pointed out the first time he’d seen the cat, surprisingly neat; Seongwu rarely found stray cat hair in his clothes or bedding. He knew the cat liked to keep itself very, very clean – the consequences, of course, were the nasty balls of fur it would eventually cough out (the first time it happened was in the middle of the night, and _of course_ Seongwu panicked and called Daniel thinking the cat was dying). It didn’t seem to mind the throwing up, though, quick to go back to grooming itself after bugging Seongwu to clean it up.

(come to think of it, the cat seemed to constantly bug Seongwu about cleaning things – one time it meowed incessantly sitting beside an unwashed pile of dishes until Seongwu got up and took care of it. An odd cat, it was)

He enters the shop in a daze, eyes never leaving the purple collar. _Black goes well with anything_ , he thinks, glancing at the blue one beside it, then at the red one; he scrunches up his nose. _These won’t do_. He quickly snatches the purple one out of the display, taking it to the register before one of the shopkeepers tries to help him – before he changes his mind, too.

“Would you like me to gift wrap it?”, the girl at the register asks him and he mindlessly says yes. _What for, even,_ he asks himself the moment he leaves the store, staring at the crinkling red package. Maybe the cat would enjoy playing with the wrapping paper. That was it.

Seongwu quickly gives up on trying to fight off the satisfied smile that sits on his face for the entirety of his walk home.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

“ _I knew you’d keep her, hyung”_ , Daniel teases him, a proud undertone to his voice. “ _It’s impossible to resist them. I know my girls own me—_ ”

“Yeah, yeah”, Seongwu grumbles, tempted to hang up on Daniel’s face if he makes fun of him again. “How many times will I have to tell you not to call my gender-neutral cat a _she_?”

Daniel laughs at him again. “ _Hyung, you’ll have to find out what—what it is, if you’re keeping it”_ , he warns. “ _You’ll have to get it neutered soon—”_

Seongwu feels a sharp pair of claws clutch to his thigh, followed by a loud, horrified meow.

“Ow—“, Seongwu yelps, clutching at his leg and shooing the cat off his lap, “Fuck, it just scratched me?” He palms at his jeans in search of signs of bleeding, sighing in relief when he sees nothing. “Maybe—maybe let’s not talk of neutering in front of it—”

“ _Hyung._ ” Daniel sounds judgmental; a judgmental Daniel is a rare occurrence, Seongwu thinks, ” _it’s not like it understands what we’re saying—”_

The cat meows indignantly; Seongwu chuckles, reaching down to pat its head.

“My cat’s as smart as me, Daniel, of course it understands us.”

Daniel is rolling his eyes, Seongwu can tell.

“ _If you say so”_ , the younger mutters back. “ _Anyway, if you need help finding a clinic I can take you to the one I take Peter and Rooney to. They’re cheap and reliable, I promise.”_

“I’ll believe in you”, Seongwu replies, briefly thanking his friend before they end the call. The cat carefully climbs back to his lap, placing both its front paws on Seongwu’s chest and proceeding to meow incessantly.

Seongwu laughs, scratching behind its ears. “Are you that scared of neutering?”

He swears he sees the cat nod.

“We’ll think about that later, I promise”, he reassures the feline, sliding his hand down to scratch at its chin. “Just don’t go around making babies or getting pregnant or whatever is it that you do and we’ll be fine.

“Come to think of it, I should probably take a look at what you are—”, he ponders, sliding a hand down the cat’s belly but quickly retracting it when the purring stops and the cat’s ears flatten against its head, “whoa, okay, I won’t pry. Sorry.”

He takes the bag with the small package from his bedside table, moving along with the cat to sit more comfortably against the headboard.

“I’ve got a gift for you”, Seongwu announces, waving the little package in front of the cat’s eyes and laughing at himself. “It’s not like you _care_ if it’s packaged or not, but it felt right. To officially start things on the right foot—to make our _partnership_ official.”

The cat tilts its head to the side, curiously watching the dangling package. Seongwu smiles, completely smitten, before he tears the foil and allows the purple pet collar to fall to his lap in front of his feline friend.

“Do you like it? Daniel has a lot of those for his cats, so I figured—I figured it’ll be easier to find you if you ever get lost.

“You wouldn’t want to get lost, though, would you?”, he looks up at the cat, tilting his head in the same angle. “We’re partners now. I feed you ham and cat food and you feed me love and affection and quality material for possibly viral cat videos—right? Partner.”

Seongwu is pretty sure the cat nods again.

He picks up the pet collar, fumbling a little with the fastener before it clicks open. His feline friend remains where it is on his lap, patiently waiting until Seongwu figures out how to adjust it to its neck.

Seongwu never fails to feel amazed at how incredibly smart, polite, attentive—the collar clicks shut—, unrealistically good-looking and gloriously naked—

_Wait._

“What the—”

Suddenly, there is a much heavier weight on Seongwu’s lap; a meaty pair of human thighs straddles his hips and he finds himself staring at a very pale, very _male_ , very human chest. What once felt like little paws planted on his stomach is now much heavier, twitching human fingers tickling him in a way that _shouldn’t_ tickle—

He chances a look upwards, meeting a mop of tousled black hair, then sharp, warm brown eyes that stare dazedly back at him, the gentle slope of a prettily-shaped nose and pouty, parted lips.

A tongue peeks out of those lips and Seongwu can’t help but dry swallow.

On the top of his head, there is a pair of black cat ears; Seongwu feels something soft brush against his ankles then peek out from behind the man. A black, bushy cat tail.

The man blinks once, twice, hooded eyes staring at Seongwu at first and then _beyond_ him; one of his hands leaves Seongwu’s abdomen to run up his own toned stomach, over his chest – he lets out a small, surprised gasp when his fingers catch on a nipple.

His hand closes in on the pretty purple collar around his neck, pulling delicately but not daring to remove it.

Seongwu follows every movement as if entranced, but he doesn’t dare look down; the man blinks again, and an _oh_ escapes his lips, his voice honey-like and much, much different from all the meowing Seongwu had grown used to for the past two and a half months.

The man sighs, and his voice comes out creaky, as if long out of use.

“What a fucking cheap trick.”

**Author's Note:**

> mentioned books in this chapter:  
> the old woman who named things, by cynthia rylant  
> coraline, by neil gaiman
> 
> soundtrack:  
> aerosmith - nine lives (the whole album) (i'm dead serious)
> 
> come [find me](https://twitter.com/orionza_e) on twitter (or dm if you'd like the writing account where i just complain a lot)


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